


When the Sunlight hits the leaves

by IWillRegretThis



Category: Hollywood Undead (Band)
Genre: M/M, Slow Build, coffee shop AU, super ooc, this is sweet, trust me it progressively gets more interesting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-06
Updated: 2015-11-30
Packaged: 2018-04-25 02:03:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4942489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IWillRegretThis/pseuds/IWillRegretThis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>(Coffee Shop AU)<br/>Danny takes up a job working at in a local coffee shop, with one thing in mind: Money.</p><p>And he does get money, along with a bunch of lovable jerks, embarrassingly obvious but chaotic feelings, someone to hold, and a Halloween that might actually be worthwhile.</p><p>It'll most certainly be an autumn to remember.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Something of a beginning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OHkay this first chapter is v boring ik ik trust me it gets more interesting!  
> tell me what you think? All feedback is appreciated.

Stupid. That’s what this was. Fucking stupid. He can barely even say his own name with out screwing up and now he’s going to a short job interview? Cause this is going to go great. Really. Truly fantastic.

 

Danny hummed quietly and smoked while he nervously waited outside the small coffee shop that had a ‘help wanted’ sign taped up. He’d seen it weeks ago, and had already dropped off an application and was called in for an interview.

 

He’d been standing outside for a while now, and the people around him had finally started to notice his notable anxiety, earning him some looks.  
“You must be Daniel Murillo! I’m James. Come on in, I’ll show you to my small office behind the store.” A happy voice broke him out of his reverie. He glanced up to see an old man, who looked kind of tired but also quite kind, holding a door open. 

Danny nodded and agreed very quietly before entering and following the person that would probably be his boss.  
After getting lead to a small room with a table and chairs, he took a seat and was asked questions.  
“So. After looking through your application, you seem fit to work as one of the baristas at Hollywood cafe. Now just some questions and we’ll call you in a couple weeks.”  
After about an hour of questions and answer, Danny was allowed out of the building. Wiping his sweaty palms on his pants, he decided to walk to his apartment, in which he lived in alone. He thought about what working at a coffee shop includes, talking to customers and to co-workers. That’d be a slight problem. But he can handle it as long as he’s getting money. The thought of being able to purchase some fireball or shit is probably going to be the only thing keeping him going.

Weeks past.  
At the moment, Danny sat at his kitchen counter, topless with a cigarette in hand, singing quietly.

 

The phone rang, which made him jump no matter how prepared for it he was, and he reached over to answer it.  
“Hello Daniel! You got the job! You’ll be working two shifts to start as you asked for in your application, 8:30 A.M. to 4:30 P.M. You start next Monday, October 5th, there will be an experienced worker there to lead you through the the first day and if you have any inquires for the start. Any questions?”  
Danny took a deep breath, quickly processing and filing away information. “No, thank you. I’ll be there 8:30 on the dot.” He said, and with that, ended the call. 

 

Monday came way too quickly, and Danny barely even had the courage to roll out of bed. He did though, his anxiety treading high and nervous jitters kicking in. After quickly showering, throwing on jeans and a t-shirt, he walked to the coffee shop, which he supposed would be his new workplace, and entered through the employee door. He was greeted by a small, empty hallway, with two doors on one side (bathrooms) and one on the other (kitchen) the hallway itself lead to the main room with the counter and tables which was currently empty. He was also greeted by loud noises coming from the small kitchen. 

 

Taking a few deep breaths, he pushed open the kitchen door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uhm I forgot to mention that in this au they are all like, twenty.


	2. Introductions...

As soon as he entered, there was immediate yelling, which didn’t help his nerves, but they calmed when he realized whoever was shouting wasn’t shouting at him. 

 

The person who was shouting though was really fucking big. Tall, and extremely muscular, he had a butterfly tattoos on his neck, and tattoos going up his arms too. He had a deep and slightly raspy voice, like he’d started smoking long before danny, even though he couldn’t have been much older. 

“Umm… Hello?” Danny said quietly. The man turned his attention towards Danny and smiled.  
“Oh, hey, Are you the new worker boss keeps talking bout?” He held out his hand, and Danny shook it.  
“S'pose. My name is Daniel.”  
“Alright, hey Daniel. My name is George. I started working here bout a year ago. The guy who’s gonna show you the ropes is named Jorel. I’ve got no fucking clue where he is though.” George glanced around, and then ultimately gave up. 

“Me and Jordon work until twelve thirty, then the other guys take over. Jorel works all day with you though.” 

 

At that moment, there was a slight clattering and someone swearing loudly. George grimaced and started yelling, “Jordon, get your lazy ass out here and say hello to the new guy!” 

 

And with that, a smaller, slightly younger looking guy stepped out from behind one of the many machines in the kitchen.  
He was shorter than Danny, heavier than him too. He had tied a black and white bandanna headband-style to push his greasy looking hair back, and stubble on his chin. He came up to George and wrapped an arm around him. A gesture that seemed to slightly annoy the other, but he looked kinda used to it.  
“Hola, what’s your name?”  
“Daniel.”  
“Okay, I’m gonna call you Danny.” Jordon smiled. Danny tried to protest, but,  
“I don’t really like being called Dann-”  
“You’re Danny now.”  
After shooting a inquisitive look towards George, which was returned by a shrug, Danny realized Jordon seemed like the kinda guy to get whatever he wanted.  
“I like to think myself special enough to use special names, that’s why I call him” he motioned to George, “Johnny. And because he likes that name.”  
Jordon gave a smile, looked at the clock and started to go back to work. 

“He’s fucking weird, in case you haven’t noticed” George explained, Danny gave a stiff nod, wondering when he was actually gonna start his job. “He’s also the one who cooks all the sweets like the cinnamon rolls and croissants and shit.” 

Danny nodded again and they stood in silence until the faint sound of the back door opening and closing sounded. He fought the urge to whirl around and see who just came in, cause that’d make him look like an idiot. 

 

“Hey guys sorry I’m late- oh, what’s up? you must be the newbie.” 

 

Danny turned around to face a man who was couldn’t have been more than a year younger than him in age. His hair was black as ink, and very short. The gauges on his ears were as big and round as a magnifying glass and he was in possession of more tattoos than anyone else in the room, words were on his neck that Danny probably could’ve read if he actually focused, and he was wearing a normal muscle shirt and jeans.  
All in all, the words ’ extremely attractive’ was what came to Danny’s mind. 

His eyes were dark brown, bloodshot and deep bags, it looked like he hadn’t slept in weeks.

Or maybe he just always looked like that.

“Yeah. My name is Daniel.” As soon as he said that, Jordon yelled from the back “His name is Danny!” And at this point Danny had given up all hopes on getting rid of the nick name.  
“Yo Danny, I’m Jorel. I’ve been workin here the longest outta everyone, so boss has given me the job of showing you what the fuck to do. But you have experience, so you shouldn’t be too lost. We should get along fine, just don’t fucking ask any stupid questions and you’ll be good.” Jorel finished explaining.

 

“Alright, cool.” 

 

Jorel motioned for Danny to follow him, and he did.  
After running through things like the average times for rushes of customers, how to make all the coffees using the new machine, where he’d stay for most of the day and how to work the cash register, Jorel had pretty much ran out of things to let Danny know. 

 

“So… Yeah. That’s you and I will be standing behind the counter for the first shift, and Jordon and Johnny will be in the kitchen. Also, it’s in your best interest not to go into the break room without knocking if it’s only them in there.” He finished. 

Danny didn’t even want to question that last statement.

“Jordon and Johnny only work part time, so 8:30 to 12:30, and then these two guys named Dylan and Matt take their place.”

Jorel checked his watch, which was a broken looking thing tied haphazardly around his wrist. 

“Well, it’s time to start.”

。。。

“So… Can I ask you a question?…”  
It was 11:30 in the morning, and Danny was already exhausted. After the initial morning rush, no one had come in 45 minutes. Jorel had taken a seat on the chairs surrounding the wooden round tables to the left of the counter and Danny leaned against the counter. He’d been pretty deep into a daydream, but Jorel’s cracking voice brought him back. His anxieties immediately rose, cause that sounded like the beginning of a pretty serious question, but he managed to calm down enough to speak.

 

“Uhm, sure.” 

“Is blonde your natural hair color?”  
Danny giggled, relieved, and Jorel joined in.

“Nah, nah. It’s usually brown.”

“Hmm. It looks nice.” Jorel responded.

Danny, who had a problem with speaking to people and had an even bigger problem with accepting compliments, was left stuttering, he was quickly mulling over responses in his head, should he just say thank you? Should he just nod his head?  
Overthinking things. Fun. Fantastic.  
At this point he has fully decided that he fails at any sort of socializing, and should probably just live under a rock.  
And he still hasn’t responded to Jorel.  
“Thanks, I- uh, you'vegotniceeyes.”

Silence.

‘What the fuck. Daniel. Legitimately what the fuck is wrong with you. His eyes? What the hell? That was so gay. You’re horrible.’ And as Danny continued the plethora of insults towards his own compliment, Jorel just smiled.  
“Thanks man.”  
Danny, who was amazed a human being as nonchalant as Jorel even existed, was eager to breach a different topic of conversation.  
“Are we allowed to smoke?”  
Jorel smiled and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. “We’re technically not allowed to, but we all do anyway.”

And with that Danny and Jorel both took out a cigarette, and let the smoke signify silence.

。。。

Jordon was weird.  
In the time of meeting him in the morning to 12.30, when him and George signed out, that’s all the information Danny gathered. He was weird in the way that he made it seem like he was rude and kind of obnoxious in what he said, but everything he did and the way he treated people when he wasn’t joking was actually quite kind.  
The relationship he has with George is unclear too, but Danny knows they’ve known each other for a long time.  
George, is hilarious.  
He’s almost constantly cracking jokes, even though most of them have serious undertones. He also talks, a lot.  
And Jorel is a different story entirely. Danny was eager for Jorel’s friendship, being friends sounded fantastic.

“Hola…. Hello? You listening?”  
Danny was immediately startled by a very deep voice, and took a minute to respond.  
“Hey. Are you Dylan or Matt?”  
“Dylan. Matt is always fucking late.”  
The man danny was looking at was extremely skinny, but good looking. He had plenty tattoos and looked like he hadn’t shaved in weeks.

Jorel appeared, smiling and chewing a ridiculous amount of gum. He gave a nod to acknowledge Dylan’s presence.  
“Have you guys heard about the Halloween party Jeffree is holding in a few weeks?” Dylan asked.  
Danny, who loved Halloween in all aspects but didn’t want to seem like a nerd, managed to keep himself to a shake of the head.

“Did someone say… Halloween?”

An unfamiliar raspy voice asked, Danny looked up,

and Jorel screeched.

And Danny did too, in return from the sudden loud noise.

The man who danny was assuming was Matt, was holding a stupid looking skeleton mask to his face, the kind you’d get at Walmart.

“Bro I can’t believe he actually got you!” Dylan said in disbelief, laughing hard.

“Shut the fuck up dude! I wasn’t scared.” Jorel tried to say, but no one else in the room was having it.

“You swallowed your gum!” Matt shouted, looking pleased with himself.  
Jorel looked slightly alarmed, cause it was a lot of fucking gum.  
“It’s okay… I used to be scared of skeletons too… In 4th grade…” Danny tried to suppress his laughter.  
Jorel told them all to do something anatomically unlikely with themselves, and then left, muttering some excuse about cleaning the blender.  
Danny turned back to Matt and Dylan, who were already engaged in bickering about halloween candy.  
“Excuse me, are you Matt?”  
The man turned, and Danny was surprised that it was just now he realized the immense amount of curly hair he had.  
“Yeah. You must be Danny.” He flashed a smile and held out a hand  
“Oh so did you listen to Jordon on my new nick name?”

“Piece of advice, everyone listens to Jordon, even if he does sound fucking stupid sometimes.” Matt answered.

After some more more small talk, Danny quickly learned that after Jordon leaves, Dylan takes his position as chef or pastry maker (mostly just spending the day fucking around) and Matt takes up Johnny’s spot of moving around-helping out behind the counter if necessary, helping out at the rows of purchasable books at the corner of the store. It was getting real close to 4:30 when Danny finally decided to ask Matt the question that'd been burning its way through his brain. 

"So... What happened to the other guy?" 

"Hmm?"

"You know... The one who worked here for a while... Tall... He had...teeth." 

Matt smiled, but he seemed slightly off put by the question. "Oh. He quit. Up and left to be honest. Left James scrambling to get a replacement." 

"Why'd he leave so suddenly if you guys needed help? Did he get a better job or some shit?" 

"Nah... He probably got a worse one honestly. It's cause him and Jorel used to be best friends, and they were since the age of like, 0, but then they started getting into a lot of fights... And then he quit. He's working somewhere else now, but I think it was just really awkward for Aron and Jorel to be in the same working environment after there friendship fell apart so abruptly." 

"Oh that sucks." Danny responded. 

"What sucks?" Jorel asked, he'd just came back from the vending machine to return to his position behind the counter. 

Danny turned around and called out the name written on the full cup Matt had handed him, but Matt answered Jorel's question with an easy lie. 

“Dylan made my whole entire home smell like marijuana and my parents are coming over soon."

。。。

Danny unlocked the door to his apart, sighing loudly. His mind was still racing from the fact he had just completed his first day of working at an actual coffee shop, from the fact that his coworkers were all fucking crazy, but nice. He wondered why Matt lied to Jorel, and how fresh the wound of fighting Aron was in Jay’s mind. Jay did seem like his mind was preoccupied, and like he was exhausted, but maybe he just always seemed like that.

Danny was actually borderline excited to go back to work tomorrow, which is saying a lot speaking his mind is almost equivalent to an energy sucking dark hole, but at least it was kind enough to replace the good energy with bad thoughts, right? It’s better than being empty, at least. 

He turned on some music and took a long drag from the cigarette he had balanced between his fingers, and began mulling over the fact that he’d have to wake up early tomorrow, again.

。。。 

“Hmm... Fuck.” Jorel mumbled. The sun was way too bright, alarm clock way too loud, and bed way too empty. 

Well it wasn’t entirely empty, there was one of his cats next to him, but they weren’t gonna offer to make him pancakes. He rolled out of bed, realizing today would be the first day he wasn’t late in like two weeks. he wasn’t as bad as Matt though, so it was kinda okay. He picked up his phone, checking his texts, but he wasn’t actually expecting anything. None of his friends from work would be prompted to text him.

And Aron definitely wasn’t gonna text him.

He was immediately mad and upset at the same time, the familiar but still confusing ache in his chest returning. But he wasn’t gonna spend too much time only thinking about it or else he was going to break something, the clock in his kitchen had already had it from the other day, a picture frame too. It took him a little while to remember everything since waking up, and once his mind cleared he was reminded of Danny’s existence. Jorel almost pitied him, the kid seemed so socially awkward and eager for approval or friendship. His face turned red from second hand embarrassment remembering how scared Danny seemed when he thought he broke the coffee maker.

Jorel didn’t really want to be his friend, it wasn’t anything against Danny, just friendship really hadn’t really worked out all that well recently and he was not in the mood for getting back stabbed again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone is reading this, what do you think I should do with Dylan and Matt? I will honestly write anything into the story tbqh.  
> And also, dear person who may be readin this, what do you think so far?


	3. Day 2...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dRAMAA   
> this was actually the first chapter i ever wrote for the fanfic so thats cool i guess :)

“Wow Jay, you actually decided to show up on time today!”

“Don’t get smart with me Jordon.”

“Get smart? What do ya mean, get smart? I’m always smart!” 

Jorel had decided to not waste anymore time dealing with Jordon, moving past the kitchen and into the front room. He was so intent upon getting everything ready for the start of the day he didn’t realize Danny sitting at one of the small circular tables, head down. 

“Are you still breathing?”

Danny turned his head to face Jorel, looking exhausted.“Dude... Good question.” He responded.

Jay smirked, and came to sit across from him.

“Is something wrong?”

“Yes-no-I don’t know! ... I’m sorry, I just didn’t sleep last night. I’m okay.”

“I’m amazed you still came into work.”

“Yeah like I was gonna fucking call in sick on my second day of work.”

“Good point... Have you had anything to eat, yesterday or today?”

Danny pondered that question for a moment, running his hands up and down the tattoos on his on arms. “I don’t remember... But probably not. I’m okay.”

“Drunk anything?”

“I’m too broke...” Danny whined.

Jorel winced, resisting the urge to laugh. “I didn’t fucking mean alcohol you idiot.”

“Oh, well then...no.”

Jay got up and told the other man he’d be right back as he left the front to enter the kitchen. Jordon was actually working whilst Johnny leaned against a counter and rambled to his half listening friend.

“I’m taking a cinnamon roll.” Jorel informed the two other men.

“Why? You already had a muffin, are you even paying for these? I want my money, I’m broke as fuck.”

“It’s not for me dude.” He defended himself from Jordon.

Jordon smiled, teasing easily rolling off his tongue. “oh I knew you’d treat the newbie with extra care! He your best friend yet?” He giggled. 

Johnny joined in, because he never missed an opportunity to tease anyone. “Jordon, I completely understand where Jorel is coming from, he hasn’t gotten laid since his best friend left!”

“Oh my goood, you can’t actually think Jorel wants to fuck that stick!” Jordon giggled. Jorel, who felt an odd need to defend himself laughed along.

“Shut the fuck up I’m not his friend in the slightest, I just don’t want him dying while we are working.”

 

Danny sighed inaudibly, moving away from the door.

He shouldn’t have listened. He shouldn’t have listened. 

Returning back to his seat at the table, he was wondering how the hell he was going to survive a full day of work being so tired. Never mind working for god knows how long in a place he feels so utterly unwanted, which, after all was a feeling he probably should have gotten used to. 

He shouldn’t have listened.

It was only 8:40 and he already wanted to go home. He didn’t even understand why he was so upset, he only met these people yesterday. He really didn’t understand.

“Hey Danny, eat this.”

Jorel had returned, not knowing Danny had overheard him, but still looking shaken up. He sat back down across from him. Danny stared at the cinnamon roll in front of him, he had never felt less hungry.

“hmm... thanks.” Danny mumbled. Jorel nodded, whistling quietly.

“Did you know you are nicer to me than the other guys are?” Danny disclosed. He had been planning on bringing this conversation up for a while, but now he wasn’t sure if he was being sarcastic or not. 

Jay smirked, “what, have you been getting bullied?” He said, voice laced with heavy sarcasm. 

“No... I just meant the others have a tendency to isolate me... Which I can understand, I mean, I met them yesterday morning and they’ve known each other there whole lives.”

Jorel was mentally screaming at himself because he had legitimately one fucking job and that was to not befriend and Danny and he just befriended Danny. 

“Oh, well, they probably just aren’t used to your presence.” Jay shrugged. He knew it was time to open soon. 

Danny, who was still a bit rustled from his eavesdropping, wasn’t being particularly careful with his words, 

“Or maybe they just miss Aron.”

As soon as he said that though, he wished he could take it back. A stormy expression passed over Jorel’s face, Jay clenched his fists so they whitened, biting his lips. 

“Just eat your fucking cinnamon roll and shut up.” He said, getting up whilst pushing the plate closer to Danny. “We have to open.” 

Danny was left chewing on his lips and staring at Jorel’s back. He would’ve apologized, but he was going to pass out if he didn’t eat or drink something.

。。。 

“So, yesterday, did you hear Dylan about the party?” Danny asked, while passing a girl her latte.

 

The day hadn’t gone too well, Danny had been avoiding everyone except Jorel and Jorel had been avoiding no one except Danny, but towards the end of the day he decided to break the silence.

“Yeah, there is gonna be a party in two weeks, and I am assuming it is gonna be really fucking lit.” Jorel responded, the smallest smile tugging at his lips.”Dylan was told to tell all his friends, which is the five of us who work here.”

“Cool.” 

They let the silence take them again, it wasn’t the most popular day for the shop and Danny was really tempted to go check out some of the book shelves. 

。。。 

“Why’d you start working here?” Jorel asked, completely out of the blue. “I’ve been meaning to ask you I just haven’t gotten around to it...”

“Oh, I got fired from my last job...”

“Bro, how did you get fired?”

“I didn’t show up to work for a week.” Danny responded, He was telling the truth for some reason, he had actually gotten fired for not showing up. 

Jorel smirked, “Wait, you just... didn’t show up?”

Danny giggled, realizing it sounded kind of comical now. “Yep. Boss was calling me and everything but I just didn’t pick up. I didn’t feel like it.” 

“Sick.”

“Why did you start working here? I know you’ve been here for a while, but why did you start in the first place?”

“Have you noticed something everyone who works here has in common?” Jay said.

Danny thought for a while, actually putting some effort into his response. “Uhmm... We are all... tall?” 

“No, you idiot.” Jorel brought his hand up and touched the tattoo on his neck, that Danny had found out said ‘love life’ earlier today.

“Tattoos! We’ve all got tattoos!” Danny figured out.

“Yeah, dumbo, this is one of the only places that is real close to my apartment that needed help and allowed tattooed kids.” 

Danny sat on the stool behind the cash register, tapping out a rhythm. He could tell Jorel was still just making the polite small talk, and if Danny wanted to actually make friends with him, he assumed he’d either have to actually do something or wait for Jorel to decide whether or not he liked him. 

Danny was also wishing that for one fucking moment in his life, he could not overthink things. He counted to 4, and opened his mouth to speak.

“Hey, Jay?”

“What?”

“Do you got a phone?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> feedback is always appreciated <3


	4. 'Lowlifes that I call my friends.'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is really bad iM SO SORRY PLS FORGIVE ME i promise the next chapter will be better  
> p.s. chapter title is a lyrics from How We Roll (i assume you guys know that)

“Jordon, babe, if you move that ladder, I’m gonna fucking shoot you down.” 

 

Johnny was currently trying to pin one of those stupid ‘happy Halloween’ posters to the wall of Hollywood cafe, and Jordon was holding the ladder.

They had been told to decorate the shop with stupid shit, which was already stupid because they almost never saw kids in here, it was mostly just a bunch of overtired teenagers and adults. 

“Or you could just come down from that ladder and kiss me.” Jordon giggled.

“I am not in the mood for your shit right now.” Johnny grumbled. 

“Oh come oooon” 

"Just go pin up that ghost to the wall in the hallway.”

"Or you could pin me to the wall in the hallway.”

“Literally fuck off.” Johnny said, climbing down from the ladder and giving Jordon a very quick kiss before he started complaining. Johnny then decided to go check in on Danny and Jorel, who were given the job of decorating the bookshelves and tables.

He checked in between the two large bookshelves, expecting to see the two men cutting out ghosts or messing with fake spiders or something, but instead found a very very flustered looking Danny on the ground, surrounded by decorations. 

He seemed to be trying to pick up everything he’d just dropped, without entangling himself further in the fake spider web. 

“Uhm… Danny?” Johny asked.

Danny looked up, looking grateful that he wasn’t by himself anymore.  
“I tripped.”

“Where is Jorel?”

“I don’t know, probably raising hell in the kitchen. He left about two minutes ago.”

“It took two minutes for you to-”

“Shut up.” Danny snapped.

“Okay, have fun picking those stupid decorations off the fucking floor.” Johnny said, then walked away. 

“Mother fucker…” Danny breathed out and begin to try to unwrap himself. 

It’d been a week since he started working here. Dylan, Matt and Jordon have become actual friends with Danny, George was somewhere in between friend and enemy, and Jorel was still remaining an ice cold being, Danny was frustrated at how much he wanted to be his friend, 

Jorel was aggravatingly magnetic and he hated it.

“You need some help there bro?” 

Speak of the fucking devil, Danny thought. 

“Uhm.. Yeah.” He admitted. 

Jorel began to pick up the fake spiders and rattle off random shit that he knew no one was really listening to.  
。。。  
“I wish I could read minds.” Danny stated randomly, after doing a lot of thinking. It was around 4:15 at the moment.

“Huh?”

“I wish I could read minds, especially yours, since you never actually speak it.” He was having one of those three minutes of courage that he would probably lose sleep over the idiocy of later. Usually whenever Danny was courageous he ended up being a dick, but apologies can be put on hold. 

"Do you want to fight?” Jorel asked without thinking. “Actually I retract that offer… I haven’t got any fight in me at the moment.” 

“N-no… Not really… I don’t know why I said that.” Danny regained himself. 

“Speaking my mind seems unnecessary, so I don’t do it. Talk to me more, and the more I’ll talk to you.” 

Danny continued sweeping, wondering what he could say. Conversation starters where not his specialty. “So what’s your favorite movie?” 

Jorel smiled, it couldn’t hurt to answer this  
one question. 

。。。 

God fucking dammit, Jorel thought.

They’d talked a lot. 

After Matt reminded them that it was time to close, they left and then began texting. It wasn’t even about anything at all. Literature and movies and stories and music, they talked a lot about music. Then they talked about Halloween and when they were kids.

And now it was one o’clock and Jorel had just called Danny his friend after telling him about his insomnia. 

Jorel, obviously couldn’t keep himself unattached to anyone, but Danny was actually kinda nice. He was still mad at himself though, but he supposed he’d get over it. 

The next few weeks passed, Danny managed to not mess anything up too badly. 

In his opinion, he’d actually done something right, which was manage to convince Jorel he wasn’t a total loser, even if the guys do occasionally talk about him behind his back. Yeah, it was kinda stupid to hold a grudge about what some overtired people said about you after knowing you for a day, but Danny was kinda stupid.

“I feel like death.” Matt stated. Dylan sighed, and Jorel smirked.

“Same.” Danny responded. Matt tried not to seem disappointed that his slight attempt to have people to complain to failed. 

Jorel pulled out a cigarette, “Dammit I forgot my lighter.”

“I got you bro,” Danny flashed a bright smile and pulled out his plain looking lighter. Dylan and Matt had already started bickering between the time that it took for the quiet to set in.

There were no costumers, and it was almost silent before Jorel’s cellphone rang. 

“HOLY SHITT” Jordon’s slurred voice came from the other end of the line.

“Jordon?”

"I just realized something!” His voice could be heard distinctly by everyone else in the room, he was shouting into the phone, and Jorel was holding it away from himself, resisting the urge to hang up. 

“Dude, it’s 4 in the afternoon, you really shouldn’t be this drunk.” Jorel deadpanned. 

“Oh yeah like you’re any better” Danny mumbled.

Jorel flipped him off, then returned his attention back to the man on the phone.

“Do… do you wanna know what I realized, or not?” Jordon whined.

“Ugh, sure.”

“Todayy is Friday, and tomorrow is fucking Halloween bro!”

Jorel facepalmed. “You are twenty four years old.”

“DO You wanna… fucking… fight or something?” 

Matt took the phone from Jorel, “Jordon can you answer my question?”

“Can your mOM answer my question?”

The four men in the cafe sighed simultaneously, thinking about how they should probably chose their friends more wisely.

"What are you trying to do?" Danny questioned Matt quietly.

"I was gonna ask him if Johnny was around." 

Danny didn't really have to wonder why he was curious about that, Johnny had always had amazing ability to level Jordon, he could always get him hyped up or get him to calm down. Even George's presence makes Jordon more calm, and everyone around them notices it. So if Johnny was in the room, he could get Jordan to like, go to bed or something.

"Hey! Hey!" Jordon tried to bring attention back to himself through the phone.

"Jordon, is Johnny with you?" 

"Uhm, yeahh." 

"Hand the phone over."

"But I don't wanna gooo." 

"Hand the phone over." Matt commanded.

Shuffling could be heard on the other end of the line. Jorel ordered them all to go into the back room, as a group of young girls entered the shop, smiling slightly at the halloween decorations. 

Danny closed the door behind them in the break room, and Dylan pulled out a cigarette. 

"Yo. Matty." Johnny's voice came through.

"Get Jordon to stop calling us." 

"Aye aye captain." 

And with that the phone call ended. Danny had already slipped out to go be with Jorel in the front room. As soon as Jay finished with the customer, Danny moved to be next to him. 

"Halloween is tomorrow, ya know."

"Yeah funny enough, a drunk man on a phone just happened to mention that." Jorel responded sarcastically.

"There's that party, right?" 

"Mhm. It's tomorrow night. You can hang at my place before." Jay said casually. Danny grinned, but then started to get in his own head about what misfortunes tomorrow may cause. 

"You know it's kinda funny, I could've sworn you hated me." Danny laughed.

"I do." Jorel snapped, but both of the men knew that he was lying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next chapter is the party arent u guys excited


	5. This idiotic euphoria

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ;)))) shit goes down tbh  
> (This chapter starts on halloween nights)

It was very, very loud.

People were moving like the waves, Danny gripped his bottle, standing close to Jorel and Matt was right next to Danny. Johnny and Jordon were no where to be seen, and no one knew where Dylan was, but it was safe to assume that he was in the middle of the mass of bodies dancing -which, for the record, only about a half of the people could actually do, the rest of them were just doing whatever impulse told them.

Jorel shouted something to Danny, though he had no actual idea what he said, but it was something along the lines of him getting himself another drink, and then he went into the thick of the crowd.

It was hot too, they'd been there for twenty minutes and swear had already plastered Jorel's hair to his forehead.

"I'm gonna go find Dylan," Matt said in Danny's ear. He turned his head and nodded at the other man's statement. Danny stood with his back against a wall, watching people.

He didn't really want to get all that drunk, but he supposed he'd see where the night took him. He was also debating whether or not he should integrate with the crowd, but he wasn't really a huge people person and the actual idea gave him layers of anxiety. 

"Hey bro." Johnny came to lean against the wall next to him. It was almost like a portal kept disappearing and reappearing, letting people come and go as easily as they pleased. 

"Hola."

"Why aren't you actually, ya know, doing something?" Johnny asked. 

Danny shrugged and moved to face George. "Where's Jordon?" 

"I don't know." He responded shortly. Something about the edge of his voice made Danny think they were fighting, but Johnny and Jordon never actually fight, so he must've just been imagining it. 

 

Danny nodded, and began to move closer to the crowd. He was trying to work out the strategies he'd use to be able to dance but not get completely swallowed up by the crowd.

The lights were orange and black and white, and occasional halloween songs were mixed with the normal dj's playlist. Danny kind of wanted to find Jorel again, just for the comfort that he gives off, but he fought the urge.

And so, on the edges of the dance floor Danny stayed, and although it went against what he originally thought, it was actually pretty fun. The liquor was tasting better with every sip, and the only people who seemed to bother him were the people he didn't mind getting bothered by. Since the room was rather large and dark, it was hard to stick with your friends but no one really minded. 

It was getting later when Matt came up to him, asking if he wanted to go outside. 

"Sure! Just let me grab another drink." Danny said with a smile. After his drink was obtained, he slipped outside with Matt to the back yard. Although the air was significantly cooler out in the back, the music was just as loud and the people were just as many. 

"I wonder where Dylan is..." Matt wondered, Danny wasn't certain he was aware that he said that outloud but it didn't really matter. 

The two men stood there for a while, occasionally talking or just dancing slightly. Sometimes one of them got whisked away by some drunk girl to dance for a while, but in the end they both just leaned against the wall, drinking and smoking.

"This is the first party I've been to in a while..." Danny admitted. "There are some pretty hot people."

"Yeah, I'm just amazed you haven't gotten high yet." Matt giggled.

"I'm kind of amazed to, if I'm being completely honest."

They both laughed then stood in the comfortable silence, enjoying the "fresher" air. 

It wasn't until Johnny came up to them with an exasperated look on his face did the conversation start up again. 

"What's wrong?" Matt asked.

"Can some one please get him to leave me alone?" Johnny whined.

For a split second neither man had any idea what he was talking about, but then a stumbling Jordon came over to them. He was drunker than he was the day before, he could barely stand up straight.

"Hey Johnnyyy do you wanna do something?" Jordon giggled.

George glanced back at Danny and Matt, they both shrugged. "Maybe you could try and get him to just, go home." 

"How did he even get this hammered so quickly? Did he get into a shot drinking contest or something?" 

"Probably." Johnny sighed. 

"Hey, I was talking to you!" Jordon said. Johnny pushed the smaller man off of him, causing a slight infuriation.

Jordon looked taken aback. "Who... Are you?" 

"Okay we need to get you home if you really can't recognize your friend of 18 years." Johnny remarked with a stern voice.

"No I don't mean it like that!" Jordon was barely able to understand, and even if you can hear through his slurred voice, he still wasn't making a lot of sense.

"So then what do you fucking mean?" 

"I mean like who are you? What are we? I never fucking know. You're fucking crazy sometimes you know? What fucking are we?" Jordon finally was able to articulate.

Johnny grumbled something again, and although he knew it was unfair to do something to someone who is drop dead drunk, He couldn't help but give the younger man a good shove.

As soon as Jordon hit the ground, he vomited and Danny jumped up. 

"Okay okay I think that's enough! Matt go help Jordon and Johnny, go get drunk or high or whatever the fuck just leave Jordon alone for the moment, okay?" He demanded.

Johnny exited the sight, and Matt helped Jordon up. Danny light up another cigarette, coughing once he felt a hand on his back.

He turned instinctually, until he saw tattoos and black hair, immediately recognizing Jorel.

Jorel, on a scale of Matthew to Jordon, was closer to the Jordon scale of drunk. He was the giddy kind though, he smiled and laughed freely, unlike when he was sober.

"Hello Daniel" He giggled.

Danny smiled, forgetting what his full name sounded like. 

"Have you seen any hot girlsss?" Jorel smirked. 

"Nah, but I haven't really been looking." 

The music got louder, and the hammered Jorel started swaying slightly, making loud jokes and puns that weren't really all that funny. Danny remained next to him, taking periodic sips from his beer bottle.

A song changed, and Jay's eyes brightened up. "This is my fucking jam!" He yelled. He moved towards the crowd in the center of the yard. 

Danny smiled brightly. When Jay was hammered he was a lot more fun. He'd never really categorized his friend as a party killer, but not a party animal either. 

The lights shone towards the people, making everyone seem either a lot more orange or pale green. 

Danny stood there watching, feeling a little bit tipsy and very happy, thinking about halloween and his friends and life in general. Jorel moved -rather badly- to the music, he was sweaty and he smelt like vodka and he wasn't really being considerate of anyone else and if he was sober he probably wouldn't even like this song. His tattoos glowed beautifully though, and he looked so much happier than normally.

"Mother fucking shit." Danny mumbled.

He liked Jorel.

Jorel, who was probably, undoubtedly straight, who sort of hated him, who had serious trust issues, who was actually kind of rude, and was a borderline addict.

And he had gone and fucking fallen in love with him.

"I'm a fucking idiot. Shit." He mumbled again, being cautious that no one could hear him.

Jorel came towards him, still looking slightly high, and for all Danny knew, he was. 

Danny, who was still in this strange, infuriating euphoria, probably has this really stupid looking on his face. He was thinking about how tomorrow he'd probably feel completely different, it was probably just the liquor or the party or the exhaustion or the halloween spirit, he was reaching for ridiculous excuses at this point. 

Jorel's loud voice came through Danny's skull, deep and cracking.

"What are youuu thinking about bro?" Jorel inquired. 

Danny easily faked a normal smile. 

"Nothing. Nothing at all."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp... This is gonna get interesting. Tell me what you guys think?


	6. Enigmas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The mornings after parties are always, always, rough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> proofreading/editing??? whats that??? ive never heard of it...

November first had always been a day of many things, and hangovers were definitely one of them. 

When Jordon woke up, he immediately recognized the splitting pains in his head, and associated that horrible smell with the party, and knew pretty quickly that he was sick. 

After groaning very loudly, for a very long time, he moved to go shower, 

“Wait a second...” He whispered, “Johnny?” He called out, then, being louder than he meant to, grabbed his head.

He didn’t know how he ended up in the bedroom of his home- which was a small, messy, apartment, but he vaguely, (keyword: vaguely) remembered Matty driving him home, but that might have just been a dream.

“Johnnyyyy.” He groaned. Jordon was confused, usually Johnny was somewhere in the apartment. George’s mood tended to calm down towards the evening, and he usually ended up passing out next to Jordon on the queen bed, but there were still some days were he slept on the couch. Even though Johnny lives with Jorel, he was always at Jordon’s.

Taking a shower and then getting back into bed, he dialed Matt’s number.

“What?” Matt picked up.

“Good morning to you too Matty.”

“Why did you call me?”

“Did you drive me home last night?”

“Yeah. what about it?”

“Did you drive George home too?” 

“Uhm... no. Why are you wondering?”

“I just wanted to, I don’t even know honestly, he does a lot of dumb things when he’s drunk like I do, so I was just wondering if he was in jail or something. He’s usually here.”

“Oh.” Matt smiled. That was the first the time Jordon ever actually showed concern for Johnny, or even that he cared whether or not George was dead in a ditch somewhere- he wasn’t the best at expressing his feelings.

They talked for a while longer about nothing in particular, complaining about work mostly, and being joyous about the cafe not being open today. 

After they hung up the phone, Jordon sighed loudly, sending Johnny a ‘heyy, where are u?’ text, and fell back asleep.

。。。 

“It can’t already be 4 in the afternoon...” Danny thought after he looked at the electronic clock, red numbers burning into his brain. He’d woken up just now. He figured that his plans to stay relatively sober failed, and it was almost dark by the time he’d woken up. 

Also, the floor was cold. 

He got up, flicking the TV on in the process, trying to recall the events that took place last night.

Did one of his friends fight? He felt like someone did. He hoped it wasn’t him and Jorel-

Oh. Jorel. Him. 

Danny was certain that he wouldn’t like him anymore, but apparently that was not true. 

And this was a problem. Jorel was a difficult person to deal with, much less tell how he felt about anything or anyone. 

And he was also really, really cute. Danny had thought that upon meeting him, but working with him almost everyday gave Danny time to appreciate certain things about him. Like the way you can see the tattoos on his collarbones when he wears shirts that go down in the front, or the way his voice drops when he’s angry. 

Jorel Decker was handsome. 

And all Danny could think about was how much of an idiot he was for falling for a guy who’s walls were built higher than China for fuck’s sake.

And then his paranoia struck up again, what did happen last night? What if he did get in a fight with someone? What if he’s really obnoxious when he’s drunk? What if everyone hates him? He was never going to get invited to anything ever again. Who even invites the new guy anyway? Everyone there was probably wondering why it was him and not Aron.

。。。 

“Dude. Literally what the fuck are you doing here?”

“I live here?” 

Jorel stood, staring Johnny down.

“You haven’t came here in like, two months, except to get clothes and give me money to pay your share of rent.” Jorel elaborated.

“I didn’t want to go to Jordon’s until I figure something out.”

“Figure what out?”

“Yesterday, he asked me who I was and what me and him were, and so now I am wondering who I am and what he means to me- If he means anything to me at all. We’ve been friends for a very long time... and now I am wondering if I actually love Jordon or I like his personality and love the idea of having someone to fuck.”

“I can’t help you there buddy- and frankly, I don’t want to. But I can tell you that you should probably figure it out. You have to be at work tomorrow and you don’t wanna end up ...”   
He swallows the words 'like me and Aron down.' He doesn’t want to say them, and he doesn’t need to, Johnny knows what he was about to say.

“Yeah yeah whatever, I’ll sort it out.”

Jorel muttered something unintelligible and moved onto the next room.

“Wow, all my friends are fucking messes.”


End file.
